Robbie Williams scores Brit-trick

Press darling takes three of four awards

Tuesday was definitely Robbie Williams night to gloat. The ex-Take That member was up for four Brit Awards (with six nominations), and walked away with a hat-trick.

Williams, who opened the award show with a performance featuring 80 dancers, walked away with the award for Best British Solo Artist (aka Best British Ex-'Huge Band Member' Award), edging out Ian Brown (ex-Stone Rose), Bernard Butler (ex-Suede), Fatboy Slim (ex-Housemartin) and Lynden David Hall.

His other two awards were for best single and best video. The career-saving 'Angel' took best single - beating out Williams' own 'Millennium' which itself took best video (beating out his 'Let Me Entertain You'). Williams' fourth award nomination was for Best Album of The Year.

The other big winners of the evening were Wales' The Manic Street Preachers and Australia's Natalie Imbruglia who both scored two awards.

The Manic Street Preachers took Best British Album for 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours' - a disc they've been having difficulties getting released Stateside (it comes out in March).

For this award they beat out heavy-weight competition from the likes of fellow Welsh troupe Catatonia ('International Velvet'), newcomers Gomez ('Bring It On'), Massive Attack ('Mezzanine') and hotly tipped fave for the award Robbie Williams ('I've Been Expecting You').

The Manics' second award was for Best British Group, an award Williams was not up for. Otherwise, the contenders mirrored those up for Best British Album with the addition of The Beautiful South who returned to form last year with their album 'Quench'.

Aussie Natalie Imbruglia swept the international awards, even though she now resides in the UK. Still riding the success of her debut, 'Left Of The Middle', she took home Best International Female Solo Artist for the second year in a row as well as Best International Newcomer - thankfully not for the second year in a row. For the latter award, Imbruglia beat out fellow Aussies Savage Garden who were hotly tipped for the award.

The highlights of the evening was the Award to Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox - collectively known as the Eurythmics.

They took home the prestigious Outstanding Contribution to British Music Award. For the event, the duo reformed the band that made them a household name in the 80s and early 90s.

Decked out in Union Jack outfits, the duo was joined onstage by Stevie Wonder for their set which included 'Sweet Dreams', 'There Must Be An Angel', 'Here Comes The Rain', 'It's Alright Baby's Coming Back'. The duo then performed an acoustic three-song segment before the band re-joined them for 'I Need A Man'.

The 1999 Brit Awards, presented at the London Arena in the Docklands, will be shown in Canada on MuchMusic on February 24. Robbie Williams' domestic debut 'The Ego Has Landed' hits stores in April while the Manics 'This Is My Truth' is out domestically on Virgin at the end of March.